


The Maze in My Lover's Face

by coldqueen5



Category: Ghost Hunt
Genre: F/M, The future is as close as it is far
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-13
Updated: 2015-06-15
Packaged: 2017-12-29 08:31:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1003244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coldqueen5/pseuds/coldqueen5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mai can't sleep during a case and Lin is more than happy to keep her occupied.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Maze in My Lover's Face

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published 11/22/2012.
> 
> Disclaimer: Not mine. (I wish.)

When he woke in the middle of the night the first thing he did was reach for her. When his hand scraped across cold sheets Lin stirred enough to open his eyes and search the shadows of the room and realize with a soft sigh that she wasn't there. It wasn't unusual for Mai to be restless during a case, the nature of her abilities sometimes kept her from dreaming comfortably. Normally when they were forced to take quarters in the client's home they'd respect their host and sleep apart, but not only was the loft they were investigating not occupied, they had also been hired by the board of directors for the high rise building. Their 'client' didn't care what happened in the apartment while they investigated, they just wanted the reports of disturbances to stop so their tenants would stop violating their leases and leaving them with vacancies that were increasingly difficult to fill.

Lin had been resolute that they would continue their principle of keeping their personal lives separate from their investigations, but when she'd wrapped her thin arms around his waist, her small fingers stealthily sliding under the loose cloth of his button up and tickling across the small of his back, he hadn't been able to resist her desire to sleep in the same bed. He'd insisted that they not go further than the lingering kisses she'd coaxed from him, despite all urges to the contrary. Their teammates were resting just on the other side of the too thin walls and Mai was not a quiet lover.

It hadn't been a hardship for him to consent to her request. He'd gotten used to the warm weight of her even in sleep, though he'd never admit as much. They didn't speak about what was happening between them, didn't force a label on something that had evolved so naturally that most times Lin couldn't accurately describe how they went from cordial colleagues to being so intricately entwined that he couldn't sleep without her.

She had been gone long enough for her side of the pallet to have gone cold and showed no sign of returning. In fact, despite the thin nature of the walls, Lin couldn't hear any noise other than the soft breathing of their colleagues in the next room. It wasn't until he was ten steps past their door that he realized he'd neglected to pull on shoes or a shirt; Mai had requisitioned the top to his pajamas and insisted cheekily that he'd be better able to keep her warm during the cool night with a bare chest. Since he enjoyed the way she slept with her head just over his heart, often drowsily tapping her fingers along his ribs in rhythm with his heartbeat, Lin hadn't minded her small theft. While he wasn't a modest man the thought that any one of their friends could wake up and find him so bare and unguarded was a bit discomforting.

Then he looked up and saw her curled up on the marble counter and the idea of caring about anything other than having her back in his arms fell aside. She hadn't bothered to dress anymore than he, her bare legs curled tightly beneath her as she gazed solemnly out the seamless windows that made up the top half of the outer walls of the apartment. It made for a breath taking view in the dark, the lights of the streets and houses below were shining like multicolored stars but the dark sky above seemed oppressive by comparison.

"You could've woken me," he announced quietly, a small tilt at the corner of his lips the only sign of his amusement. Mai could read his subtle facial expressions better than most, though Naru remained the best.

"And have your shiki scolding me all day for you being tired and cranky?"

"When have my shiki ever scolded you?"

She grinned, biting her tongue lightly before shrugging. The small movement jostled the fabric of his shirt, causing it to slide slowly off the bare skin of her shoulder. His eyes lingered there for several seconds before his ears actually registered that she'd spoken again. "Perhaps scolding isn't the best term. Sometimes I can feel them glaring coldly, though."

"My shiki might actually love you more than I do, try a different excuse," Lin suggested, crossing the room until he could brace himself on the window, leaning down to brush a kiss against her temple, lingering long enough for the soft apple scent of her shampoo to pervade his senses.

"You looked so peaceful I couldn't bear to wake you?" She offered, tilting her head back and nipping at his chin teasingly. Her tawny hair was still rumpled from their pillow and Lin ran his fingers through it, enjoying the way the silky strands flowed over his skin. He didn't answer her verbally but instead answered her with a kiss, waiting until he could feel the tremble that ran through her body before he released her lips. She sighed, her small fingers wrapped tight enough around his bicep that her nails bit sharply into his skin. "You shouldn't kiss me like that when we have an audience."

"He's seen us do worse."

"And I'd like to not repeat that experience. There's a reason we no longer inhabit the same apartment," Naru remarked from his position on the other side of the room. Lin didn't need to look at him to know the look of disdain that twisted his features. Naru had been the first to draw Lin's attention to the fact that he and Mai shared a mutual attraction (and in a way had thus given his blessing for the older man to approach her). However, the one time he'd returned to their shared apartment and found the couple entwined on the sofa had been one too many for the younger man, within a week he'd found other lodgings; though, to be fair, Lin and Mai had not taken that as in invitation to move in together. They'd waited another two months before making that decision.

Lin ignored the snide comment in favor of a bland look. How are the readings?"

"Nonexistent; we've been here a week and I have seen no indication of paranormal activity,Naru replied, shutting his laptop with a quiet click and standing to stretch. We'll be leaving in the morning. This is a waste of time."

"The pursuit of the truth is never a waste of time," Mai retorted, "and if it reassures them, then what's the harm?"

"The harm is that we could be investigating activity that is harmful. There are several other cases waiting that have the potential to be valid, two of which have already resulted in injury, including what I suspect to be a confirmed sighting of Kuchisake," Naru explained in his patented condescending tone. Lin was surprised Naru had bothered explaining himself, it went against the man's base nature to do so. Indeed the very act seemed to drain the last of his energy and without another word Naru left the two of them alone, his footsteps just barely audible as he retired to the bedroom he'd claimed for himself.

Mai shifted in the circle of his arms, leaning into his chest and resting her head on his shoulder. Her breath was a soft whisper in the shadowed hollow of his jawline but he appreciated the way the warmth spread from that small spot and through his entire body. "I hate it when he's right."

"Did he even notice that you're only wearing my shirt?"

"Nope," Mai answered with a soft, husky giggle, "or he noticed and just didn't say anything."

Lin curled her tighter against him, his free hand sliding back and forth on her bare thigh, his fingers brushing the hem of his shirt where it barely concealed her modesty before sweeping back to her knee. The small pressure he exerted turned her into his body, sheltered her from the eyes of anyone who might wander down the hall and into the living area. "Let us assume he did not notice."

"Why, Lin, is that a note of jealousy I hear?" Mai inquired, pressing a small kiss to the corner of his lips, laughing lightly when he mockingly glared down at her.

"I'm not jealous, I'm...protective," he argued back, deliberately switching his hand to her inner thigh just to watch the blood flush her cheeks. Her breath caught in her throat and she instinctively tightened her legs, trapping his hand in the intimate position.

"You're being scandalous," Mai noted. "Weren't you just telling me that we shouldn't 'engage in relations' at work? That it was unprofessional? That was just a few hours ago, and now here you are with your hand almost touch-" Her words stumbled and stopped, his fingers sliding two inches higher and expertly finding the small nub that would bring her pleasure even through her cotton panties. He stroked her slowly, circling the muscle in tighter and tighter cycles until he was manipulating her directly and her hips rocked against his hand. Mai licked her lips and stared at him through half-open eyes, bracing herself on the counter as he stimulated her relentlessly.

"According to Naru, we are done with this job," Lin told her, hooking his thumb in the top of her panties and rubbing his thumb back and forth soothingly on the muscles that jumped and tensed just under her skin. "And I have missed you." Lin could tell that she was close to finishing, her body moved wantonly and her eyes closed tightly, a low keening moan rattled from her throat and her head fell back against his arm as he braced himself on the glass. "Have you missed me?"

"I can be quiet," was her answer and Lin smiled his approval. He'd woken half-aroused, but that was something he'd come to expect since he and Mai had begun their relationship. If she wasn't in his arms, she was in his dreams, and it was more than enough to provoke his body. Seeing her half-dressed and sleep-tussled had stoked that want to a need and Lin knew he wouldn't be able to resist her again.

She flattened her hands against the counter and he slid her underwear off her body in one smooth move. She twisted to face him, her legs falling open and cradling his hips and Lin would never tell her but he felt more comfortable there than he had anywhere since he'd come to Japan. She was home for him; warm, welcoming, and loving, safe and challenging all at once. Since their initial consummation they hadn't gone longer than five days without being together, and now it had been a week and he could feel his lust for her like electricity swimming in his veins. It was sharp and tactile and ached with every movement.

Together they pushed the elastic waistband of his bottoms until they were out of the way and Lin could feel her fingers trembling when they brushed his. With all obstacles removed Mai grasped the edge of the counter and hooked her legs around his, hesitating only to allow him to align their bodies. Despite his stimulation of only minutes before Lin still had to ease his entry, using short, shallow movements that grew progressively deeper. The rhythmic motion reminded Lin of the ocean tides, rushing back and forth on the sand, creeping higher and higher until everything was wiped away and washed back out to sea. He couldn't be sure who was the ocean and who was the beach in that metaphor, but either way he was already drowning. She was arching her back and tightening her body around him, using her hold on the counter to press her body into his with all her strength until it was difficult to tell where he ended and she began.

When he was seated as deep inside her as he could get, Lin executed a slow hip roll that he knew would press him firmly against the bundle of sensitives nerves hidden inside her body. He'd memorized her every erogenous zone and knew how she wanted to be touched and when and would always do his best to make sure she was satisfied. Mai had never been good at hiding her emotions, he wasn't the only one who could read her so easily, but he would be the last to discover the way she looked when she was seconds from orgasm and desperate for that last momentum to send her over. She was looking at him with eyes glazed over and heavy and her lips pursed temptingly as she whined impatiently, her hips moving insistently until he answered her movements with a few of his own. Her heels pressed into the back of his thighs hard enough that he suspected he'd have bruises in the morning but she was coming apart in his arms and any thought of the morning was blown out of his head when the muscles of her body undulated around him and her mouth slackened around a breath he knew would become a scream if he let it.

He pressed his lips to hers, swallowing down the noise before it could escape and lost his breath as he did so. His eyes shut tightly but lights moved in the shadows as his head swam and his body moved without bidding, pumping into Mai's relentlessly, the aftershocks of her orgasm a tantalizing invitation for him to follow. She melted in his arms, laying back and bracing herself on her elbows and watching the way their bodies moved together, and the sight of her loving smile was all he needed to find his own end. His hips stuttered to a stop and he didn't even have the strength to stop himself from laying over her, but she welcomed his weight and held him until he'd stopped trembling and found the wherewithal to brace himself above her once again.

"You never told me why you couldn't sleep," Lin commented, stepping back and holding out his hand to help her down, smiling to himself when her legs refusing to bear her weight. He gave her a few seconds to find her balance before releasing her. He knelt and retrieved her underwear, letting his fingers linger on her skin as he slid them back onto her body, amused at the way she could still blush even after all they'd done to each other.

"I was feeling frustrated," Mai admitted, sliding her hand into his as she started to lead them back to the bedroom. Lin silently checked in with his shiki, relieved to find that despite not being as quiet as he would've liked, their colleagues had not awoken. They crept past the occupied bedroom and within minutes were curled up together on their pallet, her back to his front and Mai already drifting to sleep.

"Frustrated?"

She nodded and elaborated, "Sexually. Sleeping without you was bad enough, but I hadn't gotten more than a kiss in a week. You and your 'professional ethics'," Mai scoffed, though Lin could detect her jovial tone and knew she was smiling to herself.

"When we get married it will be easier. Clients can't expect married couples to sleep apart."

Suddenly Mai wasn't sleepy anymore.

"When we-"

"-get married," Lin finished, enjoying the way her mouth open and shut several times before she could actually speak again.

"That's not a question."

"No, it's not."


	2. Take Your Love and Take Your Leave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team is dealing with a dual possession, but the two people best equipped to help Naru exorcise them are the two people ensnared. They're just doing the best they can to survive until they can be freed.

“ _Touch me.”_

_She was close enough that he could feel her words as she spoke, her lips brushing against his throat, catching on the small hairs of his five o'clock shadow. “You only say that because of the demon that inhabits you.”_

“ _I say it because she strips away my inhibitions,” she cooed back, standing on her tiptoes and just barely reaching high enough to nip at his chin tauntingly. “Why don't you let him do the same to you?”_

“ _I am onmyoji. I am in control.”_

_Mai smiled and glanced down to where his fingers has somehow wrapped around her waist. “But you are touching me, Koujo.”_

“We can't leave them in there indefinitely. The threat has been neutralized for bystanders, but the spirits are now riding the bodies of Lin and Mai,” Naru announced, tapping a finger against his chin as he thought through the scenario and tried to figure out the best effort for resolution. “Monk, John, I'd like you to work on a more traditional route of exorcism. We've tried to dispense these spirits while in incorporeal form, but this development should make the situation easier to resolve. They're trapped so we can tailor our approach.”

The team murmured to themselves, discomforted by exactly what the spirits could be causing their colleagues to do to each other. Spirits had been known to inspire psychic abilities, violence, manipulation, or any number of out of character behaviors.

A loud thump against the wall of the hotel room reverberated from the locked room, causing everyone to startle. “Work quickly, we don't have a lot of time.”

The two men nodded and left for their own hotel rooms, they would consult John's tomes until they had an answer for the best procedure. Ayako watched them go before turning back to their autocratic leader. “You never specified what kind of spirits these were. Don't you think that would help us find a solution?”

Naru glanced at her through half-lidded cold eyes. “I am not certain.”

_His hand slid down her side, gliding through the dew that gathered on her skin as her body undulated beneath him. He gripped her hip and pressed her tighter against him as he ground into her, feeling the wet slap of their bodies as they joined again and again. Her nails left red scratches on his back and he wasn't sure if she was smiling at him or snarling but in the heat of the moment he didn't care. He claimed her mouth as surely as he was claiming her body and for several moments they shared the same breath, he exhaled as she inhaled and it was so intimate that for just a second it pushed back the compulsions of the spirits._

_His heart was already pounding, but as he looked into her deep eyes he felt it stutter._

“ _Do you still think you're in control?” Mai asked, the light that usually glinted there dimming as the demon inside her surged outward once more._

_He smiled and it was sharp and shining. “Yes.”_

_She surged forward, unsettling his braced arms and flipping their positions with more strength than her slim body should have. She sat astride him and wriggled deliberately, shifting her hips until she had him gasping and clenching her hips so hard she'd bear his bruises for days. “And now?”_

“ _Take command, princess, if you think you can handle me."_

_She leaned forward, brushing a surprisingly gentle kiss across the tip of his nose. “With pleasure.”_

“Tell me what happened with the other victims.” It wasn't a request, Naru didn't make those. It was a command and even their client seemed to know that an answer was required, not just expected.

“They all died. The first was an American woman, touring Japan with a group. She was fine the first night of her stay, then deceased the next morning. No signs of trauma, just...coupling. Seemingly consensual. The police insisted on an autopsy but the coroner said that her heart appeared to have just given out. A week later, it was a man. This time the coroner said that it was suffocation, though it seemed more like an asthma attack.” Their client, the manager of an opulent hotel in the heart of Honshu, swallowed heavily. “The police couldn't prove murder but our cameras showed that each person entered the rooms with another, willingly. Sometimes a stranger, a lover, a wife, a husband. All of them said it was consensual and that when they woke...they were already dead. The police had nothing they could prosecute on.”

“Why did you reach out to us?” Naru asked, though as usual he already knew the answer.

“Once or twice is a coincidence, but it's happened seventeen times. It's happening more often too. I cannot allow this to continue and...the more superstitious of my employees have been saying that it's a...”

“I don't usually encourage supposition, Mr. Horimoto.”

“They're saying it's the Yuki-Onna.”

Naru smiled slightly to himself, though the possibility had already been on his mind. “That would explain the male victims, but not the female.”

_Lin's consciousness is drifting, his mind struggling to contain the fire that burned in his blood. He'd never failed to exile a spirit from himself, the fact that this one was eluding his considerable psychic prowess was a blow to his ego. He knew that if he couldn't push the demon out, he'd need to subdue him another way. There was no benefit to have an incubi familiar, but he would tie it to him to stop this circular pattern that the demons were in. They were using Mai and Lin's bodies to feed. She fed from him and he from her, and unlike the unfortunate souls that came before, Lin knew that neither he nor Mai would die. They would continue like this indefinitely, unable to break from their need, the sexual energy cycling between them preventing the orgasmic deaths that usually resulted._

_They'd succumbed to exhaustion a few hours ago, but he could feel her restlessness return. Her legs rubbed against his, her smooth skin rasping against the lightly haired calves and sending a shiver across the surface of his skin. His fingers clenched in the sheets as he blinked up at the ceiling, awake and for the first time in hours, under his own control. The control was weak, even the sensation of her fingers accidentally brushing his side was enough to shake it's foundations._

“ _Are you thirsty?”_

_She offered him her bottle of water, licking her bottom lip of errant drops and gesturing for him to take it. He wanted to taste the warmth of her mouth, it was the only real thirst he had, but he took the water because he knew his body needed it. She curled against him as he drank, her head settling naturally in the curve of his shoulder. He could tell that the spirit in her was satiated, the lust a dull pulse in the back of their heads instead of a heated ache just under their skin._

“ _We can't continue like this,” he asserted, setting the bottle aside and shifting until they laid side by side, his cheek resting on her temple as they relaxed into each other._

“ _No, we can't,” Mai agreed, tilting her head back until her breath huffed around his ear lobe. “Put me to sleep. Gene will help us.”_

“ _In sleep, the demon will have full control of your body but you will not be conscious of it,” Lin warned, his brow furrowing with disapproval._

“ _I trust you.”_

“ _Mai-”_

_She kissed him, of her own volition and took his breath away. “I trust you.”_

“The class of spirit is broad, but now that we know what they are the exorcism will be that much easier,” Naru announced, gathering the team together just outside the room where Mai and Lin were secluded.

“What are they?” Ayako asked, tearing her gaze from the trees the lined the outside of the hotel. They were too far for her to get any sort of connection, but sometimes it calmed her nerves just to see them.

“They are incubi and succubi, and it is extremely rare for them to be in the same place. Normally they're like magnets, they exist on too close of a level, they repel each other. Somehow the opposite has happened here. They're not repelling, they've spent the last eight months spiraling closer and closer.”

“They were searching for each other,” Masako added, her gaze distant as she looked at things that no one else could see. “Burning their way through lovers until they could meet again.”

“Well that's romantic,” Ayako remarked dryly.

“No, not at all,” Masako countered, “they want to destroy each other.”

_She was vicious without Mai's spirit there to restrain her. Her nails digging just a bit too deep, her teeth biting too sharply, and even her inhalations seemed determined to pull him apart piece by piece. With every new drop of blood that beaded on his skin, he grew weaker physically but both his spirit and the stranger roared in defiance._

Everyone jumped as Lin's yell echoed through the walls. No one had ever heard him raise his voice before, let alone scream like that.

_She laughed at the grimace on his face, pain finally overriding even the little bit of pleasure he derived from just being near her. Their passionate embrace twisted into the volatile tussle it'd been masquerading as and with a last burst self-preservation the incubus writhing under his skin unlatched and flowed out on his exhale, a soft ephemeral glow to the air that dissipated in seconds._

_Lin's abilities surged with freedom, his entire being focused on Mai. She arched above him, bowed back by pleasure, her laugh shrill enough to raise goosebumps on his skin. “Now, Mai,” he commanded, his voice deep with power, his fingers leaving bruises on her arms. “Now.”_

_Her eyes shot open, first unfocused and dim, her body convulsing at the excess energy ricocheting through her system. Lin could feel her rising, though, that golden immense energy that was so purely Mai that nothing could stand in its way. It flooded her physical body and the succubus did its best to keep hold, but it was an invader and could only sink its tendrils so deep._

_Mai burned through the succubus like a brush fire, leaving only a haze of steam in her wake._

“...but we don't need to save them,” Masako finished, shaking her head as a mounting pressure spiked in her head before falling back into a dull throb. “They've saved themselves.”

“So I did all this research for nothing?” Ayako griped, yelping softly when Monk elbowed her sharply in the side.

“You'll be prepared for the next possession, at least,” he pointed out.

John remarked, “Statistically, possessions are actually quite rare. The church authorizes around two or three a century, if even that. Of course, pre-modern times records are spotty, but indicators are that exorcisms are rare.”

“Well, aren't you just a fountain of knowledge?” Her dry wit earned Ayako another elbow to the ribs, and she was still glaring at Monk and rubbing the spot when the bedroom door opened.

Lin leaned out just far enough to glare at them. “Perhaps a little privacy might be in order?”

The team was a mix of blushing, incredulity, and from the Monk a lascivious look. John and Masako left immediately, both of them a shade of red that was not particularly flattering. Ayako and Monk grinned and followed, leaving Naru to stare stoically at his assistant.

“A neotantra solution?”

Lin replied placidly, “It seemed appropriate.” There was a murmuring in the room behind him. “Mai requests tea. And clothing.”

“Will you be returning to the honeymoon suite, or staying here?” Naru inquired, steepling his fingers as he studied his friend's face. Lin could tell that he wanted to ask questions, but knew that politeness would only let him intrude into the couple's intimacy so far.

“We'll stay here for the night, but I believe that tomorrow we'll take the rest of our honeymoon elsewhere. Perhaps a working vacation was not the best idea.”

“I will alert the hotel,” Naru confirmed, standing and moving to leave the suite. “Congratulations, the better man won.”


End file.
